Legends
by InterestingIndeed
Summary: Secrets are whispered between only those who are deemed good or worthy enough to hear them. Often times secrets are kept from people especially those about jobs. For the new genin who are about to enter the shinobi world they are about to witness these secrets in a new way and learn what it truly means to bear the title of Shinobi.
1. A New Day part 1

**_Hello! This is my first Naruto _****_fan fiction! I have done other fan fictions before just not for Naruto and I am a little nervous about posting. I would like some feedback about my work! Thanks!_**

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><p>The sun made its appearance and it washed the room in its rosy pink glow. The room was simple. A bed with straight crisp orange sheets with multi colored turtles on it with a purple turtle quilt on top. A bedside table held a lamp for late night reading as well as an alarm clock that read 5:57 am. The floor was simple, hard wood with a large soft purple rug covering most of one side. Dressers were clean and dust free and held picture frames. The walls were white with orang and purple spirals painted across it. Bookshelves lined a good half of the walls chocked full of books and a few scrapbooks. A closed wooden chest sat in one corner, untouched, and next to it a orange fabric chair, one of those circular ones that look similar to a bean bag propped up sat as if it was waiting for someone to sit in it. Open windows let in the wind to play with its orange and purple turtle curtains. It was quiet and peaceful in the morning light.<p>

If you were to walk into the room you wouldn't have seen its resident immediately. You'd have to look to your right, towards the bathroom door. There, a little to the right of the door was a white desk surrounded by a clutter of papers, books, notebooks, pens, and pencils. On the desk top several books lay open with scattered papers containing various sentences scribbled on them. A pair of glasses with black rectangular frames lay beside a hand. The hand belonged to a girl, maybe 11 or 12, who lay face down on a book, fast asleep. Her cinnamon brown hair had been fastened into a loose bun on the top of her head. Normally she kept it up to keep out of her face but on the rare occasions it was down it had soft loose waves in it. But the girl never wore it down because she found it annoying to have to keep to pushing it out of her face to read or see, that and it had a tendency to frizz. The lamp was still on suggesting she'd fallen asleep while writing. Her light blue pajamas even had small ink stains on them. She let out a soft sigh in her sleep.

If you had seen this girl awake you would have seen her crystal clear water blue eyes probably without the glasses. She only wore them when she was studying in her home. Even though it made reading easier for she rarely took them out of the house.

She was never far from a book or multiple books. Most of her childhood was spent in between soft ivory pages wrapped up in the knowledge contained in the ink. If you happened to spur conversation out of her- this typically meant finding her without a book- you would find yourself speaking to a intelligent young girl who found her books more interesting than people. Her habit of hiding in the pages and speaking only when required made many people think of her as a snob, but nothing is further from the truth. This girl is called Mitsumi Utsukushi.

Mitsumi heard the loud irritating ring of her alarm clock and snapped her eyes open. Crap, she'd fallen asleep while writing last night. Her face stuck to the page that she had been writing on. The ink had dried gluing her face to the ivory pages like, well, glue. She gingerly peeled it off her face wincing in the odd sensation. It wasn't exactly pain, but it wasn't really pleasant either.

Once she'd managed to free her face from it's literary bondage she dashed over to her alarm clock and slammed the off button. The ear piercing ring ceased its insistent call immediately. Mitsumi breathed a sigh of relief. Peering out her window she pink on the horizon. It reminded her of dawn stretching its rosy fingers clearing the stars for a clear path for the sun to begin its daily rise and fall. It also reminded her that she needed to get ready for school or risk being late and facing Iruka sensei's wrath when she got there.

She made her way towards the bathroom, weaving between towers of books near her desk. It was like a maze that only Mitsumi knew how to navigate without knocking a single book out of place or toppling a tower. She considered it her alarm system in a way. If an intruder came in they'd have to navigate the maze and they'd undoubtedly do something wrong and, let's face it, those books would make a lot of noise if they fell over.

Finally she reached her bathroom. There on the counter was the clothes she'd lain out the night before: a light blue shirt, white shorts, and a navy blue cardigan. After changing and fixing up her hair into a neater bun and putting it into place with her purple butterfly slip she began furiously brushing her teeth. She out the minty gunk. She was just about to leave when something shiny caught her eye. Her new ninja head band! She'd almost forgotten it! She grabbed the navy blue band and fastened it to her forehead. She checked to make sure it was securely fashioned and, when she was satisfied it wouldn't fall out while she was running, she briskly walked out into her room, grabbed her purple canvas bag and a few books and headed for the door. There was a good reason for her haste: if she got to the library quick enough maybe she could return these books and grab more before she got to school. All they were doing today was getting assigned their groups and who new how long that would take?

She was just about to leave her room when she realized she was wearing her pink fuzzy slippers. She let out an exasperated sigh and kicked off her slippers and instead grabbing her white flats. Flats aren't known for their ability to aide in kicking people and running away from enemies

She raced down the steps, taking them two at a time and dashed for the exit. Flinging the door open she sprinted down the side walk in the brisk, cool morning air. She clutched her bag to her chest to ensure its contents safe keeping. As she ran she had to curl up her toes in her flats to prevent them from slipping off. The heels fell out as she ran, making a slapping sound as they hit the pavement.

The sky was becoming lighter as the horizon turned orange. A few clouds hung over head, but not many. It looked like today would be another sunny day.

She hurried past people on early morning strolls and people grabbing their morning papers. She turned street corners with almost machine like precision until finally, out of breath and red in the face she found herself outside of the Konoha Library. She paused for a moment, listening to her heart race before walking inside.

Miss Chiaki was just removing her coat when Mitsumi came in. Her face lit up at the sight of Mitsumi.

"Good morning Mitsumi," She said in a cheery voice before taking her seat at her desk. "You sure are here early, don't you have school?" Miss Chiaki was a young woman with dark brown hair and kind dark eyes framed by black rectangular glasses like Mitsumi's. Her face was as gentle as her heart even if it had a few wrinkles. She was a tall woman, not overly tall but taller than most. She wore khaki skirts and sweaters most of the time. You know that smell you get when you open up a book for the first time? That delicious papery ink smell? That was what Miss Chiaki smelled like. She couldn't be more than twenty five years old.

"Yeah, but I wanted to return some books before and maybe grab some new ones." Mitsumi said. She began unloading the books in her bag.

Miss Chiaki chuckled. "I bet you've read half of this library!"  
>"Then that's one half of a library I haven't read yet," Mitsumi responded. She grinned. Miss Chiaki laughed. Miss Chiaki was one of the few people Mitsumi ever truly talked too. Miss Chiaki was practically Mitsumi's second mother. They'd hit it off from day one nearly 3 years ago.<p>

"I'd think, when someone became a ninja," Miss Chiaki said wiping her eyes. "You'd have less time to read,"

"No way!" Mitsumi exclaimed. "I'd never slack off on my goal to read every single thing on these sacred shelves!"  
>"Right!" Miss Chiaki hooted. "Go pick yourself a few volumes before you go."<p>

Mitsumi smiled. "Thanks Miss Chiaki!" She said then dashed to the back of the library where all the old thick volumes were kept. She passed the numerous tables and chairs, squishy armchairs, large sofas and, obviously, shelves with chocked full of books. Books on science and math, books on amazing adventures, books on art, music, poetry, and dance, books on self-help, books on the human body, books on just about everything.

As she passed the different shelves she counted them silently in her mind. "290… 291… 292…" Until she came to her destination: shelf 307. She walked into the row and ran her finger along the labels on the bottom of the smaller shelves until she found the one she was looking for and there it was, a thick green volume waiting to be read, all she had to do was grab it. She was a bit short for her age so she had to stand on her tip toes to reach the fat spine. The book's hard fabric-like cover, once smooth but now frayed from years and years of use, rubbed against her fingers. She pulled the book out and held it in her hands. She brushed excess dust off of its cover. 'Advanced Medical Science Studies: The Brain' it read in elaborate gold font. Seemed fun enough. She scanned the shelves for anything else that might be interesting.

As you may very well know this is not typical behavior for an eleven year old. Typically an eleven year old wouldn't even be in a library. They'd be outside playing with friends or just playing in general. Even if they were in a library they'd been in the kids section, not the medical sciences section, but then again, Mitsumi wasn't really your average eleven year old.

Satisfied with her choices she made her way to the check out.

"Advanced Medical Sciences Studies: The Chakra Network," Miss Chiaki read out loud a thick red volume Mitsumi had found next to the brain book. "My, you sure are feeling adventurous." Miss Chiaki said. "Have you had breakfast?"

Mitsumi shook her head. "I guess I forgot to on my way out." Her stomach rumbled as if it was scolding her for being so forgetful.

Miss Chiaki sighed. "It's your first day! You need the food!" She reached under her desk and handed Mitsumi an apple. "Here, have this,"

"Thanks!" She exclaimed taking the apple. "I'll see you later!" She said and left the library her head already buried in a book

Miss Chiaki smiled and slowly shook her head as she watched the door close behind Mitsumi.


	2. A New Day part 2

Arato was awakened by something bouncing on top of him. "Arato!" It screamed in sheer delight. "Mom says you have to get up!" Arato moaned. Why couldn't he just stay in bed? It was warm in here and free of annoying little sisters. "Get off me Akimitsu!"

"Then get out of bed!" Akimitsu yelled. He felt the bouncing stop and the weight shift off his bed then the scrambling of little feet and the slamming of a door. He contemplated going back to sleep, but figured it wasn't worth the risk of having Akimistu bounce on him again. He kicked off what little of his covers covered his body after Akimitsu's wake up call and swung his feet over so they were mere inches off the ground.

Have ever gotten up for school and just sat there on the edge of your bed in a sort of morning haze? That was Arato alright. He surveyed his small room.

The walls were blue, not a dark blue or a powdery baby blue, but a sky blue. Arato had always liked the color of the sky. Most of his furniture was made of smooth white painted wood. A dresser that contained his clothes sat by his window. A small single book shelf sat close by and his desk next to it. Past the practical part of his room was an art easel with the floor around it covered in old news papers. Arato had enjoyed painting ever since he was a little kid. There was a large shelf with a glass case that held his paints and brushes. As a kid he had mainly experimented with watercolors and had a tough time mixing just the right amount of pigment and water. Too dry and it would be a thick goop, too wet and basically you'd get water. He continually had to remix the paints and grab new water from the bathroom. They had to redo the white carpet in the hallway 5 times before finally a sink had been installed in his room just so he'd would stop going into the bathroom and spill watered down paint everywhere.

"Arato!" His mother yelled. "You better come down here soon or risk missing breakfast!" She must have been holding a skillet full of bacon and eggs at the bottom of their stairs because the mouth watering aroma wafted up the stairs and into Arato's room. It was almost enough to make him leave his bed, almost.

"Arato!" His mother yelled again. "Don't make me send up Akimitsu again!" That was more than enough motivation. He put his feet on the cold hardwood and shivered. Why did hardwood floors have to be so cold in the morning?

Arato shuffled to his dresser and grabbed out his clothes then shuffled out the door and into the bathroom, which wasn't really any better. If anything the tile floor was colder than the hardwood floor.

It didn't take him long to change into his clothes: light tan shorts and a gray shirt with a single red stripe running horizontal across the front, and his black vest, and pull on his new ninja head band. Yesterday he remembered being so pumped about graduating and becoming a ninja but today he felt like crawling back in bed for at least another hour. To avoid the cold floors, he grabbed a pair of socks and pulled them on. At least two sizes two big, and probably belonging to his older brother, they looked out of place on his feet but at least now his feet couldn't get frostbite.

"Good morning," His mother told him cheerily as he shuffled into the kitchen. His mother, Sonoko, was working busily at the stove, an apron covering her large belly. The Sato family was already pretty large. With four kids the house was bursting at the seams but there was a fifth on the way, due in a few months.

"Mmmfff…" He managed as he pulled out his chair and sat down. He rest his head on the table. With a little luck he'd could fall asleep on the table for a few minutes. No such luck.

"Hey Arato," A hand rumpled up is his hair. He lazily batted it away and lifted his head to see the offending appendage's owner. It was his big sister, Hotaru. He stared down his older sister hoping she'd leave him in peace, but alas, again he had no luck.

His sister grinned at him. She was definitely a morning person along with his mother and sister. Sunlight glinted off of her straw colored hair and refracted off of her ANBU armor right into his eyes. He had to cover his eye just to look at her. Why did the ANBU uniform have to be so, shiny?

Hotaru pulled up a seat next to Arato. "First day on the job, huh?" She asked, knowing the answer. Hotaru was almost 17 and in the ANBU, she knew everything. Arato grunted his displeasure.

A plate clanked noisily in front of him. He opened his eyes to see the blue plate with hot bacon and toast. If it hadn't been so early in the morning this would have been his ideal breakfast. His mother plopped a glass of orange juice in front of him.

"Come on Raiden!" He glance over to see his little sister drag his older brother by the sleeve of the shirt. Raiden groaned.

Akimitsu was strong for a five year-old. A full head of copper curls and bullheaded enough to give a donkey a run for its money Akimitsu had been, from day one, an energetic child. She pulled her hair back into bright blue ribbons. She wore a white blouse and bright pink shorts. Also she had on a robe like thing that was blue with pink trim and dragons embroidered across it. It was tied at her waist with a red ribbon. The robe had been given to Akimitsu on her first day at the ninja academy by their grandmother and she hadn't taken it off since. She strained with the effort to pull Raiden in the kitchen.

"You are being assigned your group today!" Akimitsu grunted. "You can't be late."

"Yes I can!" His brother protested and yanked his sleeve free of Akimitsu. He plopped down in the seat next to Arato. He had brownish reddish hair, like Arato, and his chunin jacket on over top his ninja uniform. He wore his ninja headband around his arm. He grabbed a piece of bacon off of Arato's plate.

"Hey!" Arato protested, trying to grab it back, but Raiden just shoved it in his mouth.

"It wasn't like you were eating it!" He said through a mouthful of crispy bacon.

"But I was going to!" Arato said. "Moooom!"

"What are you going to do?" Raiden jeered. "Pull it from my mouth?" He opened his mouth revealing the disgusting mess inside.

Now it was Akimitsu's turn to scream. "Moooom!"

"Raiden!" Their mom scolded. She plopped a plate in front of Raiden. "That is not how a jonin acts!" She plopped down a plate in front of Hotaru and Akimitsu who climbed on top of a chair.

"Well that's how this ninja acts." He said taking a sip from Arato's glass. Arato's mom gave him a furious look and opened her mouth to say something when a knock came at their door.

Arato's mom sighed and turned to address who ever was at the door. Arato, not wanting to give his brother the chance to steal more food, began eating his breakfast. He heard the door open and his mother's voice.

"Hello?"

"Sonoko Sato," Came an answering voice.

"Youga?" Her mother said. "What can I do for you?" Hotaru stopped chewing at the sound of her teammates name

"I hate to bother you on a fine morning," Youga said. Youga was a frequent visitor. He was part of the ANBU with Hotaru and often came for a visit.

"You aren't bothering us," Sonoko said. "Don't be silly,"

"Well, I was sent because we just had a team come in from a mission badly poisoned." Youga said. A hospital call, that was also pretty normal. Sonoko was a medical ninja who specialized in poisons and antidotes. When all else failed they typically turned to her.

"When I left they couldn't walk. We request your presence to see what you can do, but uh," Youga scratched his head nervously, eyeing Sonoko's large stomach. "If you don't want to-"

"Of course I'll go," Sonoko untied her apron and hung it on the hook. She turned to her kids. "Lunches on the counter, have a great day! Try not to get today on your missions! I'll be seriously annoyed if one of you turn out to be my patient later!" And with that she turned and left with Raiden calling after her:

"No promises mom!"

Hotaru elbowed her brother suppressing a smile. "Okay," She sighed. "Finish up guys, we have lots of work to do today, big day for everyone." Hotaru got up and picked up her already clean plate. As she passed everyone she tapped their head. "First day on babysitting duty," She said tapping Raiden's head. Raiden stuck his tongue out. "First day with Iruka sensei," She said tapping Akimitsu, and then she tapped Arato. "First day as a ninja." Arato brushed her hand away but he couldn't help the smile from spreading across his face.


	3. A New Day part 3

Kashi was awoken from her sleep by someone or something grabbing her ankle

"Wha-" She managed through a haze of sleep and the next thing she new she was hoisted into the air. She flailed and kicked at nothing in particular. She glared sullenly at her older brother. "Harou! I'm going to kill you!"

Harou grinned. "Good morning to you too!" He said obviously trying not to laugh. "Mom said to get up so you can get to school on time."

Kashi groaned and tried to kick her brother but that proved harder than she thought. He merely swerved to avoid her weak blows. She stuck her tongue out at him. Harou unceremoniously dropped her on her bed and, laughing hysterically all the way, left the room shutting the door behind.

Kashi glared at the door maliciously, like it was harboring a dangerous criminal and staring at it would make it reveal its deepest secrets, but a door is a door and no such yield came forth. Finally she admitted defeat and made her way to the bathroom.

Kashi's room was relatively small, but at least she didn't share it and she had her own bathroom. (Score!) The walls were a simple white color as was most of the furniture. Her bed sheets were white with multicolored polka dots. Her curtains were pink. She had a large white bookshelf with mostly fantasy novels, photo albums, and yearbooks were contained in between its white boards. She had a white bean bag underneath a window that served as her reading nook. A small lap desk lay beside it, waiting for the next homework assignment or test to be picked up and used. A plethora of stuffed animals lay in a net that had hooks connecting it to the back corner and the adjacent sides. More lay either on her bed or around it. A dresser, with simple painted flowers and an ivy climbing up its sides, stood near the bathroom door. Sunlight lit the room from a skylight and numerous windows casting a soft morning glow on everything.

Kashi came out of the bathroom still in a foul mood. She was going to kill that blonde headed jerk! She grabbed her new ninja head band and tied it, scowling all the while, to her head. She examined herself in the mirror. Her blonde hair was pulled off into a ponytail on the side where it barely touched her shoulder. After the seventh time of getting her long hair caught in the obstacle course she'd cut her hair into a short crop that was no linger than half an inch past her shoulders. An orange sleeveless vest and a white shirt that stopped a little bit above the elbows. Fingerless black gloves covered her forearms. She wore a black short skirt-one of the ones with the side cut to allow easy motion- over bandaged legs. Last week, Mitsumi Utsukushi, an extremely smart and introverted member of her class, had accidently gone overboard demonstrating nature changes and had accidently set Kashi's pant on fire. Kashi was still pissed but Mitsumi did seem genuinely sorry and in a rare act of social interaction came over to Kashi's house with a tube of ointment. Mitsumi had always been a bit of an introvert but every now and then you could see an actual person behind that book.

"Kashi!" Her brother yelled through Kashi's door. "Do I have to dangle you by the ankle again?"

Kashi turned beet red with a mix of frustration and embarrassment. "NO!" She screamed and dashed for the door. She flung it open hoping Harou hadn't heard her coming but she saw his feet turn down the hall and heard his laughter. She fumed and darted after him.

"Get back her you lousy no good brother!" She yelled chasing after him and sliding down the banister to try and catch up to him. No such luck. After being a ninja for five years now Harou was definitely better at evading capture than Kashi was at capturing. Ah, the joys of older brothers.

She came to a sudden halt outside of the kitchen. She didn't want mother knowing about this. Kashi's mother was a no nonsense woman with a sharp tongue. She calmly walked in and put, what she hoped, was a calm expression on her face.

"Good morning Mom," She said cheerfully. Her mother sat at the table, reading the news, and eating her breakfast: cereal. Cereal was normal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner nowadays. Typically dad was the one who cooked but recently he'd been put on more and more missions which meant cereal.

Kashi's mom was in her white bathrobe still. Kashi knew her mother, a medical ninja for Konoha's Med Corps, wouldn't be due to arrive at the hospital until later that morning.

"Good morning," Her mother said, spooning cereal into her mouth. Kashi's mother had light brown hair and brown eyes, a simply stunning combination in Kashi's opinion. Kashi always thought that having brown eyes and brown hair or blonde hair and blue eyes was the perfect combo. She thought people with other combinations were cute too but for some reasons she liked those the best, which is why she wished she could find a jutsu to change her eye color from green to blue.

She took a seat in front of her bowl with its cereal swimming in milk. She scooped some into her mouth. She saw her brother smirk over his bowl. Kashi stuck her tongue out at him. He covered his mouth and made his mouth into an o shape of mock surprise then he took his right hand and tugged his ear and brought his left hand up to his chin and tapped it twice. Kashi shook her head, tongue still protruding, the teeniest bit and pointed to her right hand down to her butt and made an O shape with her left hand. Harou snorted in his cereal milk. Their mother looked at both of them but by that time both Harou and Kashi had turned her face into a mask of calm.

The moment their mother looked away they grinned at each other. Over time they had developed a secret language to communicate, or insult, each other using only silent hand movements. Their parents didn't like it when they insulted one another out loud and made it clear that to do so was considered a serious offense punishable by grounding. So now they communicated their plans in silent secrecy. This was the conversation:

Kashi: Jerk!

Harou: Oh really? Well, you're a jerk face!  
>Kashi: And you're a butthole!<p>

Sometimes when the hind signs would seem really suspicious they used leg and arm taps. One tap to the left ankle meant 'you're annoying.' A responding tap on the right ankle meant 'You are too.' A toe stomp meant 'shut up!' and a knee kick meant 'back at you.' Those were just some of the phrases they'd developed. Most of their secret language was made up of insults, some as colorful as a rainbow, some as stupid as all get out, but all them were signed on a daily basis between brother and sister. Breakfast was finished in relative silence.


	4. A New Day part 4

The morning sun burnt a hole into the back of Ryuu's chunin vest. He could feel his black hair practically melt off his face, another scorcher in the land of fire that was for sure. He was sitting on a fence watching the entrance of the library with fervent interest. Recently, watching that door had been a past time of his. Now that he was supposed to be a jonin instructor it wasn't like he had much else to do until he received his new squad. If he hung around with his former ANBU partners they asked to many questions, and he didn't have many other ninja friends here. He'd been in the ANBU most of his career and most of his year was either dead or extremely busy. He tried to stay positive and hope it was number one for most of his classmates, most of them anyways. Some of them he couldn't stand and while, he'd never actually wish death on them, he really didn't want to meet them again either.

Suddenly he saw the library door open and Ryuu watched as a girl exited the library. In her hand was an apple and the other a book she read as she walked towards the ninja academy. She had a ninja headband in her cinnamon brown hair. That was new which meant Ryuu was right, she had graduated yesterday. Ryuu had been watching this girl with increasing interest over the past three years for a few reasons. Reason number one: what eleven year old goes to the library for medical texts? Ryuu barely went to the library as a kid and when he did go it was to grab something interesting like comic books or get away from his older brother but this girl had been going to the library regularly for 3 years coming out with books most eleven year olds wouldn't even dream of getting. The second reason was the fact that she was her niece. That wasn't nearly exciting as number one. Ryuu sighed. She probably didn't know he existed though, it would be just like Ayumu to leave out that fact.

Ayumu would definitely do that, Ryuu realized. That was just like the little bastard. Ever since they were little, Ryuu's older jerk of a brother tried to deny Ryuu even existed and was let alone related to him. It wasn't because Ayumu didn't like him, it was just that that was what Ayumu was like. He didn't tell you anything unless you asked for it or it was required. Ayumu had always been a quiet kid.

Ryuu shook his head. He decided to make it a priority to see his brother sometime, but between missions and now his new job as a jonin instructor he probably would never have the time to. Then again, did he even want to see his brother? His brother had been extremely busy with missions. He was rarely in the village, and the same for his wife and their eldest kid, who was about 16 now, and extremely active as a ninja.

"Ryuu," A voice said from behind him. Ryuu didn't even have to glance behind him to know exactly who it was.

"I was wondering when you were going to come around chastise me for not being at the academy already, Kakashi." Ryuu said. He didn't need to turn around to know Kakashi's face would be holding a look of indifference. Even if he did have a different expression on, Ryuu wouldn't be able to see it because of that stupid facial mask. Sometimes Ryuu thought about ripping it off and finding out what was beneath it. He knew he wasn't the only one too. During Kakashi's ANBU days it was often rumored about what behind that mask.

"Yes and no," Kakashi said his tone flat, undecipherable. "Lady Tsunade wants to see you, actually."

"If it's about the frog in her medicine bag tell her I said I was sorry already," Ryuu said dismissively. What more did she want? A letter of sincere apology written by hand?

"What? No," Kakashi said with a tone of curious amusement. "When did you put a frog in her medicine bag?"

Ah ha! Ryuu had gotten some emotion out of the emotionless Kakashi Hatake. Bragging rights will ensue later. He turned to face the seasoned veteran with a grin on his face. "Last month, you know, when I tripped into that rose bush and it scrapped all over the burns I got on my previous mission?"

"Well, that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't realized getting second degree burns typically means jumping out of a window is a bad idea," Kakashi said. His tone implied like he was the all knowing elder and Ryuu was an immature child. Ryuu hated that, but still, in a way, Kakashi was his elder teacher thing.

"Not my fault I was concussed and hallucinating." Ryuu said defensively.

"Concussions don't cause hallucinations." Kakashi said. "You should know that, how many are you up to now?"

"This year or all time?" Ryuu asked. "Cause this year it's 9 so far and all time I think it's something like 35, give or take a few, and how do you know concussions don't cause hallucinations?"

"You think I haven't had one before?" Kakashi said. "I get injured too you know,"

"Whatever," Ryuu said.

"And anyways what caused the hallucination was your dehydration." Kakashi explained. "But get on with this story."  
>"Well I slipped a frog that had got on my bed from the outside into her medicine bag and she flipped." Ryuu said laughing. "She hasn't let me live it down since."<br>"You probably shouldn't be an instructor then," Kakashi said.

"I'll probably be better then you," Ryuu said mischievously. "I won't let my students get taught by, what did Naruto call him?"

"Pervy sage?"

"Yeah, pervy sage." Ryuu said. "I think I can handle three students at once. I don't need someone else to teach my students while I tutor the one his perfectly capable on his own without a murder justu."

"Sasuke was different," Kakashi said.

"And Sakura was useless, your point?"

There was silence because both parties knew Ryuu had just made a great comeback.

"Just go see Lady Tsunade," Kakashi said. Ryuu grinned. He put his hand up to his head and made a salute to his former ANBU captain.

"Aye, aye Captain!" And leapt away but not before he got a glimpse of Kakashi face palming at Ryuu as he left.

"Ryuu Utsukushi," Lady Tsunade said. "I was beginning to think Kakashi didn't deliver my message."

"Kakashi? Nah, he is one of the best ninjas Konoha's ever seen. I doubt he wouldn't deliver a message." Ryuu said. "You know him just as well as I do."

Tsunade smiled. "True, but we aren't here to discuss Kakashi, we're here to discuss you and you new squad."

Ryuu didn't like the sound of that. He hated it when teachers called him in for 'one on one' talks. They always made him guilty and awkward about himself and his actions. Whoever thought this was a good idea needed to go burn in a-

"I want to make sure you can handle a genin team, especially so close to losing your mother." Tsunade's words interrupted his thoughts like a sharp kunai.

Ryuu's grin slipped off his face like water at the mention of his mother. Every time he was reminded of her grief hit him like a ton of bricks. He wanted to sit down but Lady Tsunade didn't have any chairs in her office.

"The doctor's have said you've been passing with flying colors and show few signs of lasting depression." Lady Tsunade said. "But I am still unsure as to whether or not you should do it, after all, your niece is on your team."

His niece was on the team? That brought the smile right back to Ryuu's face. He'd always wanted to meet his niece.

"I am just unsure as too whether or not you should have a constant reminder of your loss on your team-" Lady Tsunade prattled on.

"No way!" Ryuu interrupted. "I don't she even knows I exist! Ayumu probably never mentioned he even had a brother!" He was giddy with excitement.

"Do you even know her name?" Lady Tsunade asked, obviously annoyed. That was not exactly unusual for Ryuu. He got wound up and excited so easily almost every ninja in the village got annoyed with him from time to time.

"Nope," Ryuu said cheerfully. "But here's a great chance to learn!"  
>"Here," Lady Tsunade sighed and rolled her eyes. Handing him a file. "There is all the information you'll need for your team. Names, medical history, grades, abilities, stats, the works."<p>

Ryuu thumbed through the papers in the file as she spoke. Did they do this for every ninja? How much information did they know? Goodness, this was a lot. It even had these special notes from sensei Iruka. He wondered what his file looked like. Probably filled with notes about his pranks and 'misdemeanors' as they called them, and various punishments for said pranks and misdemeanors. His hand sometimes still throbbed from the time when had to write 'The middle finger is not a hand sign' 1,000 times. No regrets though, no regrets. That teach was a b-

"I understand your excitement to read it now but, I suggest you head down there now," Tsunade said interrupting his thoughts once more. Her face held with a soft smile that Ryuu was trying to decide whether it was out of politeness or if it was genuine .

"You're late enough as it is." Lady Tsunade said, finishing her previous statement. "And no genin likes to be kept waiting."

Ryuu grinned, remembering his first day as a genin. "Right,"


	5. Squad Assignments!

_**Please let me know how I am doing!**_

* * *

><p>'The chakra system is vital not only to shinobi who use it for jutsu, but for every day function.'<p>

The babble of students swirled around Mitsumi as she sat at her desk, enveloped in one of her books. She tuned out the rest of world as she let her eyes continue down the page, absorbing each word like a sponge.

'The chakra system is linked to each cell of the body supplying it with energy. If the chakra flow and cells are out of synch the person may lose the ability to use chakra for anything other than normal day-to-day functions.'

Mitsumi had once heard of ninja who had to rely purely on taijutsu to fight because they couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu. Taijutsu had never Mitsumi's forte. Mitsumi could perform taijutsu but using it in battle normally resulted in some severe injuries on her end. She typically stuck to her ninjutsu in any fight. Iruka sensei had told her is most likely because she didn't put enough power behind her blows and blocking moves.

'The reason that their day to day functions are not disrupted seems to be from a second system of chakra nerves that runs deeper than the chakra one would use for jutsu.'

That made sense. Mitsumi felt hot sunlight on her back. She sat next to a window to allow golden sunlight to filter onto her page. Normally she sat in the very back corner but her detour to the library had lost her a prime seat, but the books were worth it.

"Alright," A familiar voice called. Mitsumi glanced over her book. Iruka sensei stood there. How had she not noticed him come in? Oh well. She closed her book and slid it into her bag and waited to hear her sensei's final words to them, as students anyways.

"Here in this hand is the list of squads," Iruka said holding a clip board with a single sheet on it. "In a moment I will read off the names but first I just want to say how proud I am of you all," Iruka sensei sniffed.

"Are you crying, sensei?" Asked one of the students. It was Kashi, a quick tempered girl who was rather popular. Mitsumi got the feeling that she was more focused on her friends than her studies.

Iruka wiped his eyes. "No," He said.

"Would you stop crying and read the list already?" Exclaimed another student. The entire class turned to see Hitomi Itazura, the class spaz, standing up out of her seat. Hitomi had light brown hair worn into two pigtail that looked like small puffs on each side of her head. Her eyes were a startling shade of blue, almost electrifyingly so. Even though Hitomi was far away from where Mitsumi was sitting she could see Hitomi's eyes. Hitomi was an outspoken girl with a temper like a volcano. Though quick witted, many people thought Hitomi was dense because she fit the stereotypical class clown and class spaz description. Mitsumi figured Hitomi had some form of ADHD because the girl couldn't sit still. She had to be twiddling her thumbs, humming, jiggling her knee, etcetera. Hitomi also had a tongue like a freshly sharpened kunai. Her words cut through the air like butter. Even though many people had thought she was annoying in the beginning of the year, she was generally accepted now as a great friend, despite her temper, impatience, and knack for trouble. She had an upbeat personality, always searching for a laugh and had boundless amounts of energy.

There was one person who had always been Hitomi's friend, Hajime Richi. Hajime could reign Hitomi in when she got out of control. He was suave, calm, collected but was over all an optimist with high spirits. He also had light brown hair and blue eyes but his eyes weren't that brilliant blue of Hitomi's. His eyes were a deep almost navy blue.

"I'll tell you in a minute," Iruka sensei said with a laugh. This seemed sufficient for Hitomi who slid back into her seat. Iruka cleared his throat and continued. "I already said what I needed to yesterday,"

Mitsumi remembered Iruka's tearful graduation speech. He'd broken down on the podium and Lady Tsunade had calm him down. The whole ordeal had been kind of sad for everyone. They all had loved Iruka sensei.

"So I'll only say this," Iruka sensei said. "Just remember your own humble roots and don't forget to visit!"

Everyone chuckled at this. Once, during class, a few of Iruka sensei's former students had burst in during class, hugged him, then ran out to tumultuous applause. As it turns out, the trio had been Iruka's students a few years ago and had just been promoted to chunin and they wanted to thank their sensei. Afterwards Iruka sensei had gone on a tangent about visiting him and from that day forward he reminded them to visit him often.

After the class quieted down Mitsumi noticed an air of uneasy tension fill the room. Everyone glanced nervously from Iruka to the paper in his hands that held their own fate. Mitsumi reasoned that there was a reason for this nervousness. Everyone wanted to know who their sensei was and who all was on their team and of course they wanted to get started on their first missions. She saw beads of sweat form on foreheads, hands clenched tightly around friend's hands, teeth grinding, finger crossing, lip biting, and the fiddling to clothes all through out the room. The nervousness oozed out of the air like thick syrup from a bottle.

Finally Iruka sensei cleared his throat and lifted the page up for his eyes to read. Everyone was practically on the edge of their seats, literally. A boy named Arato Sato even fell off his seat to nervous laughs. Arato, red as a tomato, sat back down. Arato was one of those artsy people. He was forever doodling on his notebook and homework. His drawings were actually really good. Once Mitsumi saw his notepad and in it he had drawn each member of the class. His page was flipped open to her drawing. It was like looking into a mirror. Her 'reflection' smiled up at her out of brilliantly blue eyes. It looked so real, like it could pop off the page at any moment. He'd gotten everything in precise detail, from her semi wavy/curly hair to that tiny scar under her left eye all in gorgeous color and perfect shading.

After the class quieted down once more Iruka sensei cleared his throat and lifted the paper up to his eyes once more.

"Team 27," He said in a calm voice. "Hajime Richi, Hitomi Itazura, Kaisho Umi," Hitomi and Hajime slapped palms. The pair were best friends. Kaisho, who was a pessimistic black haired boy, sunk down into his seat. Kaisho didn't really like the upbeat personality of Hitomi, nor the high spirit of Hajime. Kaisho hated working with people. He preferred working alone. Mitsumi wondered how that team would work out.

"Team 28," Iruka continued. "Nori Ueda," Nori, a small black haired girl looked up hopefully. "Rioma Inuzuka, Sachio Kita," Rioma pumped his fist. He was a competitive boy who worked hard to get to the top. He was the personification of hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. Sachio was immensely talented in most areas but was too lazy to work at it. For a while, Rioma was forever in Sachio's shadow until this year when finally all that hard work paid off. He'd beaten Sachio in a sparring match. As a reward, Rioma's parents had given him a small gray spotted puppy as his ninja hound. Airi, as the puppy became known as could be found either on his shoulder or in his arms, but one thing was for sure, the pair were inseparable. Where one went, so did the other.

Iruka continued down the list. Mitsumi waited patiently, sizing up the remaining candidates. She wouldn't have wanted any of her classmates gone already. She looked around, trying to find someone she wouldn't have minded being paired with. Her eyes landed on Kashi Yamanaka. Kashi was nice enough, but a terrible fighter. She was the only Yamanaka incapable of using their clan's mind transfer jutsu, major set-back right there. Plus Kashi was illogical and unreasonable. Mitsumi hoped she wouldn't paired with her. She was 100 percent positive that Kashi was still pissed that Mitsumi had accidently burnt Kashi's legs during a nature transformation demonstration. Mitsumi had gone over to Kashi's house with burn ointment. The whole thing had been extremely awkward and Mitsumi's skin had actually crawled whilst she was there. That was probably because Mitsumi avoided talking to people if she could avoid it.

Then she saw Arato Sato. Arato was kind, gracious, polite, and, as stated above, very artsy, but also extremely clumsy and awkward. He was terrible at confrontation and never made the first blow. He was terrible at Genjutsu and all thumbs with hand signs. He was pretty good at Taijutsu though, but Mitsumi still didn't really want to have him on her squad.

Shiori Kasai was really weird, Akio Ito was overly pompous and acted like he was entitled to everything, and Taiyou? Taiyou hated Mitsumi because Mitsumi beat him in all their quizzes and tests and review games.

"Team 36," Iruka sensei said. Mitsumi looked around. Of the thirty students in the class only a few remained. "Shiori Kasai, Taiyou Hisakawa, Akio Ito," Mitsumi was certainly glad that those three were taken. Mitsumi assumed the next squad to be announced as 37.

"Squad 12," Iruka said. Okay, not numerical order. "Arato Sato," Arato glanced up from his drawing nervously. "Kashi Yamanaka," Kashi stopped twiddling her thumbs and looked around. She met Arato's gaze and rolled her eyes. Those two had been enemies from day one, constantly fighting. You couldn't leave them in a room together unless you wanted another shinobi war. Mitsumi pitied who was their third member. She scanned the room, trying to find out who was left. Surely their was another student not yet assigned. She hadn't been paying much attention, but she knew her fated was sealed as soon a Iruka sensei opened his mouth. "Mitsumi Utsukushi,"


End file.
